Ve 
Occultations and Eclipses, observed at Dorchester, Massachusetts, 
BY W. CRANCH BOND. 
In making the selection of the following observations from a 
large number, those were taken which were thought to be the 
most accurate, or which presented some curious phenomena. 
All of them, excepting those of the years 1820, 1821, 1824, were 
made at my present residence in Dorchester, in the latitude 
42° 19’ 20” North; longitude 0° 3’ 15” East of Harvard Hall 
in Cambridge, or 71° 4 15” West from Greenwich Observatory 
nearly. 
The times of observation are given in mean solar time, civil 
account, for the meridian of the place of observation. They 
were determined by an Equatorial instrument, of thirty inches’ 
focal length, fixed on a granite pier; the foundation of which is 
four feet and six inches below the surface of the ground, in a dry 
gravelly soil. The results of these observations were frequently 
compared with those deduced from altitudes, taken with a 
Borda’s Circle, and a Sextant by Ramsden; the mean of several 
observations rarely differing a second from the Transit by the 
Equatorial. Two excellent Transit Clocks, with mercurial pen- 
dulums, the one by Holmden, the other by Parkinson and 
Frodsham, were relied on for the intervals. The Telescope 
used was a Gregorian reflector, of thirty inches, excepting for 
the interesting phenomenon, the occultation of Jupiter, November 
14, 1820; and for the Solar Eclipse of August 27, 1821 ; at which 
times an Achromatic Telescope of forty inches was employed. 
